Woman gets federal prison term for stealing from Waterville Valley condo associations

CONCORD — A former Waterville Valley resident has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison and has been ordered to pay $956,717.55 in restitution as a result of her guilty plea to five counts of wire fraud and one count of "corruptly impeding the due administration of the tax laws". Courtney Stone, 38, now lives in Portsmouth, Rhode Islands but at the time of crimes she worked for her family's Waterville Valley property management company, according to Acting United States Attorney Donald A. Feith.

Feith said Stone stole money from the bank accounts of 28 Waterville Valley condominium associations and counterfeited Internal Revenue Service documents "in an effort to convince third parties to release to her funds that the third parties were holding on behalf of the property management company. The IRS had lawfully levied the funds to satisfy the (management) company's federal payroll tax debt."

Stone will be subject to a three-year period of supervised release upon her exit from prison.

United States District Judge Landya B. McCafferty further ordered Stone to pay nearly a million dollars in restitution to the victim condominium associations and others who suffered losses.